Hero has played tight. Villian is a hoosier, by the looks of it probably plays poker once a week after his child support clears his check and all the bills are paid off. He is loose passive preflop, but plays careful postflop. I haven't noticed him put his money in the pot postflop unless he's got a decent hand.

Stacks: Villian- $200
Hero- $190
My cards are AK

Preflop: Hero raises to 10, several folds, Villian calls $10, everyone folds.

Flop: Kx, 8d, 4d

Hero bets $16, Villian Raises to $40

Hero:

It's 1/2 live. Shove.

Yeah I reraise too. You're far ahead of his range. He could have KQ, KJ, Kx of diamonds, just diamonds, etc.

Do you have any diamonds in your hand? would he raise a FD from position?

if he is good aggro, he might be playing a draw a bit aggro. would he bet a set so strongly?

you're ahead of a lot here, but i really dont think he plays KQ and KJ so aggressive. my guess is a K with a diamond draw. unless u have the K diamonds.

so knowing your hand suits would help





such bad advice
this thinking is how you go broke and then wonder.... why am i broke?

Royal just called Acid_Knight broke. oO0OoO0Oo!!!!!! Burnnnn!!!

LOL.

He's got <100 BBs and he's holding TPTK on a flop where there are a lot of draws. He didn't get raised that strongly. The guy made it 2.5x his bet. What do you propose he does? Flat call? Fold? Shoving here is right by a rather wide margin IMO.

And no, this isn't how you go broke. Doing this and being wrong or unlucky when your bankroll consists of 4 buyins is how you go broke.

not really.

mostly i was just saying, we have a lot of people post hands with TPTK shoving stacks and losing. and chalking it up to coolers.

If your read on villain is, donkey/newb, no idea what hes doing. raises middle pair. I agree that TPTK is the nuts.

but thats not the case here, and shouldnt be chalked up to 1/2NL, shove. I'll tell u. if you shove TPTK on me often, you're going broke often. cuz i'm not calling with worse.

You might not be, but other people won't fold KJ on this board. Also, he could be and likely is raising a wide range of hands that include draws, made hands weaker than ours and made hands better than ours. Since we're ahead of his range, we need to reraise. Shoving is the only size that really makes sense.

LOL


you have no info on our suit holdings, you have a villain who is supposedly "loose" preflop, but doesnt invest money postflop without a decent hand.

if you chose to ignore this, and just push TPTK then fine.

also he is 5bb's shy of 100. its a full stack IMO. and In my past experiences, with 1/2 and 2/5 NL live, I've ran into more trouble with TPTK post flop because i chalk it up to playing 100bb's deep. whether its my stack or my opponents. and thats bad thinking.

correct.

which is why i asked OP what his suits are.

bascially, our best case would be getting called by KQ off suit.

then getting called by Kd,Qd where we are a slight favorite. basically a flip.


then the worst is obv running into 2 pair or a set.



so whats our Pstove?

So what do you propose? Calling OOP against a range that we're ahead of, but have no idea of his actual holding and what...?

Why isn't he raising KT or KJ or KQ or a flush draw here? Some people think they need to "see where they're at." Just because we're shoving, doesn't mean we expect him to call with KJ or KQ or whatever, but since his range is wider than those hands and it'll be difficult to play poker OOP here, we should just get it in now.

This is probably one of the more difficult things in NL holdem. (playing a hand like this OOP)

Because his range is made up of a lot of K,x suited. AK, 8,8. 4,4 maybe those K,x suited hands could be K,8s and K,4s maybe even 8,4s. He is branded as loose.


I think we can get a lot more out of KQ and hands behind us by playing it passively. opposed to shoving.

i think any kind of 3-bet, and villain's attempt to find out where he is at becomes successful.

if you tell me its better to take this pot on the flop with a 3bet, forcing villain to fold, I can understand the line.



For me it comes down to this thinking. I call the flop, reassess the turn. c/c most bets. if it checks through, I'll value bet a non-diamond river.

this thinking is mostly due to the fact that, we could just shove the flop, all outcomes will remain the same if villain calls. we see a turn and river.

only difference is, we're hoping to be up against a hand behind us. were as a flat call, check turn might give us the info we need to fold.


say for example the turn is a complete brick 2s. and we check and villain bets 70. I'd let my hand go. There are times that maybe i was ahead, but without a good enough read telling me this guy is a donkey who overvalues K,J.. I dont think its worth the stack

Anyone like flatcalling the raise and CRAI a non diamond turn?

What are you talking about, all outcomes remain the same?

LOL

OK. I like this thread. People arguing about a hand. Nice.

Anyway, we really need to know what our suits are in our hand. This gives us SOME information to go on. Do we hold AdKd? If we do, let villain hang himself by calling or min-raising, because I almost think he's got a flush draw by raising like this when WE hit the board with our K -- only leaves two kings left in the deck.

Aside from that, a lot of the problem here can be solved by a better flop bet. Personally, if I raise AK and flop one of my two cards, I'm potting or overbetting it, depending on the villain.

That's the way I play AK in cash games. Frankly, I don't feel that it's just that strong of a hand to take all the way to the river, street-by-street, in cash games. It plays 1,000 times better in tourney formats, AINEC.

So if we know that the villain overplays any pair, I'm looking to shove and get the call from KQ/whatever. If the villain is the kind to shake his head and muck KQ here, I bring him along more slowly.

So. We got a pot of $23 or so and we bet $16. If I'm your garden-variety $1/$2 villain, I would be thinking you hold KJ / KT / K? or something now, because the $10 PF raise and $16 bet frankly isn't that much for most $1/$2 games, and most $1/$2 players bet the strength of their hand.

So if I'm the villain, I might raise my flush draw, especially if I perceive you as tight.

Just an aside, would this "Hoosier" slow play AA PF like this? Just a thought.

Anyway, after thinking it through, and needing more information than I would have if I had played the hand myself, I'm going to say shove. Not because it's a brilliant play, but because we've butchered the hand a little and just need to get out. If he folds, we're getting 1/4 of his stack.

Ok, my cards were AsKh. I had no diamond.

I think Royal's assessment is spot on. I do not see Villians raising in this spot with hands that we beat very often, but rather just calling if they had a hand like KJ or a diamond draw.

Also, its not fair to say that our TPTK's are always good here because it is "1-2 live NL" I play at one of three major casinos here in St. Louis, and i've spoke to some regulars who consider the 2-5 game at Harrah's "the game in town". If the 2-5 game is this way (there's only about 2 of them running), then the 1-2 games can't be too far off in difficulty. From my experience, at least 75 % of the players have at least some idea of what they are doing, and are not hyper-aggressive Donks or anything like NL players in Vegas or Atlantic City from what i hear. Most players play 1-2 live like they would 2-4 Nl online. IDK, i just don't understand why this excuse is used when we talk about mid-limit live games, but its rarely used in Micro-limit strategy posts.

When I play 1/2 live in the casino it plays like .05/.10 online

Seriously

possibly a little worse because of the preflop overbetting.

Just fold, he's a hoosier so you know he's got you dominated!!!!!!!!!!

1. There is NO WAY that you will see a 1/2 live game that plays like 2/4 online. I've played up to 25/50 NL live and logged a fair amount of hours at 5/10 and 10/20. I can tell you that the players who beat a 1/2 game online are more than equipped to crush a 5/10 game live most of the time. Bigger live limits correlate to lower online limits, not the other way around.
2. This whole hand really feels like a limited bankroll issue to me. Do you have any idea how weak tight it is to assume that you're beaten because you made a 2/3 PSB continuation bet on a semi-coordinated board and are facing a VERY STANDARD raise? If you're going to give up on AK here, or assume that you're beaten most of the time (and still call) then you're gonna be losing soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much money. Your hand is so strong here. You do realize that for him to be beating you, he needs like exactly 88 or 44, or to have called a raise with 84/K4/K8 preflop? Against the 1st 2, you're dead but against the last 3, you have between 3-9 outs depending on how the board cards fall.

You're crushing his range. Stick some more money in the pot. If he's got you beaten, reach into your pocket and pull out another buyin. I don't understand the logic of "he can't raise this flop without a hand that beats me or a huge draw," I just don't. He's got position. The bet doesn't represent a large % of his stack. Why the hell are you so dead set that it represents so much strength?

Dude, i really do not get why you sound so mad in your posts sometimes. The only thing i said was the 1-2 games where i play, the games play very tight, and when people are raising you, its usually not on a draw. You have to remember something when you go off on these rants against me. When i make these posts, keep in mind that I do not have anywhere NEAR the playing time and actual live experience under their belt than you do, so quite acting like this is supposed to be second nature to me or something. Your feedback is GREAT. But i just don't get why you act so upset? I'm LEARNING this game, thats why i post. Have you ever made an exaggeration before? Yep, i'm sure you did. You did last week. I made an exaggeration about 2/4 online vs. 1-2 live. Of course its not the same but the 1-2 games that i play are generally not just chalk full of donks that you are accustomed to in Vegas man. Generally, they are alot of young players that are tight with their money, and some older players who only raise with the nuts. Thats all i said.

Now getting to the hand, you are correct when you say it is partly due to a limited bankroll issue. I just can't reach in my pockets and pull out a couple more hundreds and say reload all the time when my TPTK goes down the toilet. I am learning alot now (after an -1100 downswing) that i can't afford to play LAG and if i decide to play 1-2, i have to play VERY tight. In this session, i was playing tight. When i was raised on the flop, i have to make my decision here whether i'm going with the hand all the way or folding. I decided to call and check raise a non diamond turn. The J hearts came on the turn, i checked, he bet 50, I shoved, he called and had a set of 8's. GG me, i suck. After the hand, i really thought about it, and didn't know if this was standard, or if i should have paid more attention to the fact that i had not seen him raise or stick money in the pot without a good hand. I felt i should have paid more attention to my read and just folded to the raise. I talked about the hand with a young player sitting next to me and he said he loses more money when he flops top pair than anything else. So, yes, i think this is an issue that is worthy of some discussion, and not just because its "1-2 Nl live", and yes, i am a broke bastard, i should never play 1-2 NL in my life because i will be too weak tight, etc, continue flaming.

the description: He is loose passive preflop, but plays careful postflop.

means he calls nearly ATC and only raises when he has the nuts/near nuts


when you make that description yourself, why bother posting? TBH your read tells you exactly what he had. He's a calling station, get the hell out of the way when he raises (no i'm not being results oriented but w/e)


oh, and your game isn't good if you have these types of players... this is a COMMON opponent/fish to run into in microstakes.


One thing you can do to solidify this read, is take note of how often he plays OOP with garbage. If he isn't aware of position, this is never a diamond draw.

I appreciate your response, but yes you are being results orientated. I gave the specific read in order to see if people are still shoving here. I like to post to get feedback, thanks.

I'm not angry at all. Please grow thicker skin because this is like the 3rd time that you've acted somewhat offended by the tone of my posts in your thread and you've made it known each time. Stop taking things personally and stop reminding me that I have more experience than you. I know I do and that's why I'm offering advice here. Read what I have to say and learn from it or ignore it or disagree or do whatever you want with it. Just stop acting like I'm being such an ******* or going out of my way to be mean to you or whatever. I post the same way in everyone's threads.

You post this hand and it's already obvious from the original post that you lose it. I know this. Most of the posters probably know this. I know that your opponent has a set or 2 pair already when you make this post and I'm still telling you to shove. Why do you think that is? Is it becuase I'm secretly trying to make someone I've never met lose money? Man, I hope not . No, it's because your opponent has a range of hands. In actuality, their hand is only one hand in that range of hands, but you must act accoring to the group of hands that he would play in this manner. The fact is that there are just so many more hands that you beat, than are beating you. Some of them he will certainly call a raise with (like a naked flush draw, Kx suited with the flush draw, flush draw+gutshot) and some that beat you (like 2 pair or a set) and some that may sometimes call your raise and sometimes fold, like KQ or KJ type of hands. If you had $400 in front of you, I would advocate that you call his raise and play very carefully because stacking off for 200 BBs on the flop with 1 pair is usually a pretty big mistake. With only 100 BBs and TPTK, this isn't a big mistake at all and is almost always correct against the range of hands that he holds.

I mean, your plan for the hand is quite frankly terrible. If you think he's got your hand beaten, then you should fold on the flop. If you think there's a high enough chance that he's got a draw or a weaker made hand, you should raise. What you chose to do is decide that it is very likely that he's got a draw or a weaker hand, so you flat called his bet, gave him a chance to improve for free, and THEN you put all of your chips into the pot. What were you trying to accomplish? If you thought you have the best hand on the flop, then just reraise/shove/get the money in. If you don't think you have the best hand, then you should just fold to his raise because you're not really getting good odds to outdraw him and you're OOP and if he's got a set, you're drawing almost dead anyway.

If you can't afford to risk a stack here when you are very far ahead of his range, then you need to find a different game to play. I understand that you are learning and want to play and don't have a ton of money laying around, but if the amount of money that you do have is adversely affecting your play, then you really need a different game to play in.

I agree with the generalization that B&M games are easier than the same stakes live, but there are definitely exceptions. So I disagree with the statement in bold.

1/2 is a bigger game relative to the cost of living out here. It's also not like Vegas in the selection of games, either. Some very tough players are sitting at 1/2 games because it's the biggest game they could find in their city.

I understand that, but it's mostly the level of aggression. I grew up in upstate NY and played at Turning Stone Casino while I was in college. I'm pretty sure that most people who play 1/2 there are devastated to lose $300. Relative to the cost of living in upstate NY, it's a miracle that they ever had a 5/10 game going, even if it was only on Friday nights.

I've played all over the place like in CA and Vegas and AC and Foxwoods and TS and while all of the 1/2 games are different, the aggression factor isn't nearly as high as it is online. I'm saying that not even in the 5/10 games in Vegas are people as aggressive as they are at 1/2 online.

It's really not a knock on the quality of the players as much as it is a knock on the styles they play.

I think these is the most important part of this discussion.

yea, you get upset. Its easy to tell that, so don't pull a Roger Clemens and deny it. And by me just pointing it out, doesn't mean i have don't have thick skin. It just means that i'm pointing something obvious out to you and you're denying it. You hate when someone critiques your suggestion, and God forbid that ever happens, and when someone does, boy do they hear it from you. I made one comment about how i'm tired of hearing people use 1-2 NL live as an excuse to overplay hands, and you give me a lecture.
Did you notice that i did disagree with you? See, thats what you don't like, when people disagree with you. You can't admit or be even be open minded to the fact that someone else (not me) may have a better point than you.

So you are saying that even if we think we are beat, due to the 3 outs that we have, there is enough money in the pot to shove this hand anyways? Is that what you are saying? Please, i'm learning at this game, i didn't know that would be +EV.



thats why i should have shoved the flop instead of giving him a free card. I understand now. Ok



What? Since when am i very far ahead of his range, due to my description of villian?



Let me ask you a question. Have you ever played 1-2 NL, or any NL for that matter that you were underrolled for? When you did, did you play tighter than you usually would?

No, I'm saying that from the way that you post the hand I know that you're beaten. The fact that you're posting the hand in general makes it pretty obvious that you lose, which makes it easy to know what hand the villain actually has. Read my post, I talk about why I want to shove, which are not based on knowing results of the hand.

I'm really done with this shit. Now I am pissed off because we went over all of this crap 3 weeks ago.. If you don't want my advice, then don't PM me asking me to take a look at one of your threads. If you do want it, then don't get all moody about how it comes out. Seriously. There was a whole discussion about this in the challenge thread:

http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-foru...31&st=15800

Orly?

How? Because I CAPITALIZED a word in an internet forum? Is it because I said the word "hell?"

I'm really curious becuase I know when I'm upset since, well, I'm me.

Please enlighten me.

OMG, thats why you were the only one to mention it? AM i going crazy here, or Have i been THE ONLY PERSON to make a strategy post about A HAND THEY LOST? OFMG ROFL Correct me if i'm wrong but i didn't know it was a requirment to only post hands and request feedback for hands won or hands that were folded. What a ****ing joke man.

I pm'd you ONCE asking you to take a look at the hand. Do you remember what you did? Let me remind you what you did to help me out. Instead of PM'ing back going over the mistakes i made, you ridiculed me in the thread i made about the subject, and then you went to the challenge thread just to point out the fact that my fold was so bad "it made my head hurt". Don't worry i wont bother you over PM anymore.

Just forget it man. I have enough problems to worry about besides poker and i how played one or two hands in a casino.

If you want to actually make him mad...

K-10 soooted?





Also LOL at me being results oriented



pretty much



the point I'm making is, you described a calling station... and then tried to check-raise him when he's committed to the pot...

like...

duh?

You just admitted in your post earlier that you are really pissed off now. So, it must have slightly bothered you before, and now its made you made.

/case

Temp, you were being results oriented. You wouldn't have said that if i didnt reveal the result of the hand.
I tried to describe the Villian as best i could (i actually tried to be a little humerous about it too but it failed
My point was, if you have a villian that when he raises you, you can only put him on a hand that beats you, should i be folding? If you ask Acid, he will tell you No, that you should still be shoving into that range because his "range", and EV. So you are disagreeing with Acid.

I admit my raise is foolish if i think im beat. I was just asking how everyone else plays it.

If the results are "I'm describing a villain who has a tough time folding preflop because he can hit big, but is scared to put money in BECAUSE HIS LIFE IS ON THIS"

then yes, I am being results oriented.

given your description of this exact villain i disagree with Acid, but this is normally a shove.









but then again, are you sure your description isn't results oriented?

It's called not being results oriented. Post all of the losing hands that you want. Get advice on them. Figure out what you did wrong or what you did right or what you could do better. The point that I made here is that from the OP, it's obvious that you lose the hand. It's fine. People make bad plays and lose hands and get sucked out on. The question is, did you still play the hand well? Would you be posting it if you won the hand? I'm guessing that most of the time, if you shove the flop and he folds or you CRAI the turn and he folds or whatever, you're not gonna think you misplayed the hand when in actuality, you might have actually played it worse in a situation where you win (though, that point really has no bearing on this specific hand) than if you'd lost.

I don't know if you're picking up on the subtelty of what I'm doing here. I'm obviously very pissed off with you now (though I wasn't before, despite what you might think) yet I'm still triyng to offer you constructive advice. I'm not really sure why, but I'm doing it.


Sorry, I wasn't informed that I was supposed to privately critique you on a hand that you posted in a public place.
You posted the hand in the challenge thread, where different players post, and so I got involved in a separate conversation there too. You act as if I have some personal vendetta against you. If you don't like my posts, I suggest you just block my posts from your view so that I don't offend your very delicate feelings.

lol, yea still working on making the thread titles and description of the villian and scenario more entertaining. I just hope people that pay child support or have a eastern background don't take too much offense...

I obviously disagree with your range. If you'd looked at the actual content of my post instead of being so indignantly offended by my perceived tone, you might have seen this.

Nowhere did I ever post "ZOMG TOP PAIR TOP KICKER I DON'T CARE WTF HE HAS I AM SHOVINGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!"

threads like this are why I keep popcorn next to my computer, thank you all.

FYP





you should read battle rap forums... there are some "gangstas" that make this look like a petty disagreement with the crying that goes on lmfao

Damn, you caught me!

The big question is what offsuit king hands does he play for all of his chips. (I left out 5d6d. Sue me.) Here are some ranges, with increasing tightness.

1.


2.


3.


4.

if you think you're ahead, against say KQ or a diamond draw, well, that's the perfect time to shove - once he's commited...

if you think you're behind because he's a rock who only has 44,88 (or a weird AA/KK,2p type hand), well, that's a bad time to shove...

I knew you were pokerstoving the shit outta this one.

I think range 2 is probably good enough. I mean, you didn't give him credit for KJ or any worse Kx hands other than K8s, which seems weird that he can't show up with KT/KJs, but will show up with K8s, but whatever. I mean, I think that's a really tight range and we're still a coinflip.

Thanks David.

thats cool man. I don't want to remind you of anything that you already know, because you asked me to stop before in this thread, but i will do it anyways. Your insight HELPS ME, and is GREAT. The great thing about this forum is that we have several really good players (you, MT, David, Simo, etc)....several wannabe professionals that are still donkish at times but are good nonetheless (Royal)
J/K Royal, you are good....and then you have those like me that want to learn more, blah blah blah, really need help, etc. The really awesome thing with this forum is that you can get a diverse group of opinions, not just opinions from yourself, but others that may be in my shoes as well.

I don't know, are there other people in my shoes that post here that like to play 1-2 NL live, have a limited bankroll, and this situation might apply to them as well? I hope so. If i were to call myself a recreational NL player, and not to be too focused on the numbers but my actual read of my opponent, i think i should look at this situation and say **** it, i'll dump the hand this time because i can only see my opponent raising with a strong hand here, and look at another oportunity to make money. Call it weak tight, fine. I only have $26 invested in that hand, with $170 or so behind.

I think that sometimes when i interpret somebody giving me a hard time for no reason, i'm going to say sometjhing about it.. Not because i don't have thick skin, but because i'm gonna call someone out. I don't dislike you or anything Acid, but i will admit i'm not one of your lackeys or friends or anything on here, so if something is said that i disagree with, i'm gonna speak my mind, and you should as well.

Truth is, i'm actually a good guy in person. But when things get heated on an internet forum or message board, i stick up for myself. I don't like starting shit.

Meh, maybe I said something close.

To the OP:

If your read is that this villain cannot ever be raising you with a hand that you beat, then I don't know why you're even asking the question about how to play the hand. If you are so sure he has you beat, then it's an easy fold. The fact is, you should create hand ranges (in pokerstove preferably) and see how you do against his range. There's always a chance that he's bluffing, since poker players do that. I mean, you get annoyed that I keep saying "shove becuase you're ahead of his range" while you are condtending that we are not, yet in the actual hand, you shove anyway.

People make mistakes in poker hands all of the time. Everyone does.

Assigning people too tight of a range is what weak tight players do. They assume that they are always beaten and that the other player is never bluffing or never raising a weaker hand than they actually are. Those pokerstove ranges that David made take into account a VERY tight range in my opinion. They are all hands where the villain has really hit the flop and is raising you for value. It doesn't even take into account that your read might be off and the villain might raise you with 89s or total air here. Ranges are everything in this game because it's so rare that you can actually narrow down your opponent's holding to one specific hand.

out of ignorance im going to ask this question. Why are we including the other diamond draws (i think the Kd Qd fits) in this range? If i put villian as tight postflop, then i dont think he would raise me with a draw.

LOL. I have lackeys? Heh.

I go back and forth with everyone. Read any one of my posts. If I think you're wrong, I'm gonna tell you. If you think I'm wrong, I expect to hear about it. What I don't expect is that people are going to take shit personally, which it really looks like you did here because you probably thought I was out of line. It's a poker forum. I'm talking about the hand you posted and your play at the table. Until I start taking swipes at your wife or your personal life (maybe I could add this to my repetoire ) then you really shouldn't have any reason to take offense to what I say or how I say it.

Also LOL at mtdesmoines being good! (sw, I think )

I guess because i didn't know if it was "too weak-tight" or abnormal to fold AK in this spot.
I know with most of the professionals here, this is probably a no-brainer shove, but you guys play alot, have alot of cash on you, and just chalk it up in the long term that this type of move will eventaully pay off in the long run. I think about it in different terms, i think short-run rather than long run, because even though i do want to make money when i play, i'm not looking at making this my job. This might be the wrong approach, the scared money approach, but i look at this as an opportunity to make a laydown and move on. My intial read was that i was beat. But i remember so much from these forums that i knew you guys would say shove, so i got my money in, just at the wrong street.
good discussion and input, thanks.

If you think he's that tight, then why are you even considering doing anything other than folding? David gave him 2 huge nut diamond draws, TPTK, TP and 2nd NFD, and the weakest hand he shows is one that probably has 12 outs to the nuts. That is a SUPER tight range dude. Even the nittiest of nits would consider raising those hands on the flop.

If you are so sure that his range is 88 or 44 or KQdd, then just muck your hand.

I think that you know his range is bigger than that though.

If you're sure you're beat, then folding AK is fine. Hell, folding AA is fine since it's basically the same hand.

Online is different than live. Online in a 6m game, you're basically never considering folding here. The players are too aggressive and your hand is too strong.

You can't think of poker in anything BUT the long run. I mean, yeah, ok I know that everyone looks at short term and stuff, but in reality, everything is long term. When you get it AIPF with AA vs KK, in the long run, you'll win 80% of the money that is in the pot. In the short run of 1 trial, you're either going to win it all or lose it all. Just because you lose this trial, doesn't mean that's how AA vs KK works. That's why you need the long run.

Every decision you make has an expected value to it. Some decisions cost you money and other decisions make you money and it's based on the premise that if you encountered the same situtaiton an infinite number of times, you'll approach your actual EV on something.

Having a short bankroll sucks, especially when it's for 1/2 NL live, which is basically the smallest live game that runs. You really shoud find a way to NOT let the money affect your play though. Nothing should get in the way of making the correct decision in a hand. If that means playing half as much as you do, maybe that's what you should do. Spend the time that you would be playing inbetween by reading books or forums or something and getting better. That way, when you go to play, you bring 5 buyins and you say "I don't care if I get sucked out on here or if he's beating me, he's got a draw a lot here and I need to shove and if he has a set, well, that sucks, but I'm gonna reload and be happy with my decisions...."